“We are pleased to be a part of this important Coalition and, specifically, to help bring awareness to the challenges facing our small business veterinarians,” said Dr. Mark Lutschaunig, veterinarian and director of AVMA’s Governmental Relations Division. “While it is evident that losing customers who turn to online companies for their pets’ medications results in a negative impact on the business of veterinary medicine, it is important to understand that our first concern involves the lack of quality control for our patients’ prescriptions and our inability to ensure that they are receiving not only the right products, but safe products. It is essential that this legislation is passed so that veterinarians are not at an unfair disadvantage when it comes to providing the products and medications that our nation’s pets need and deserve.”

The Coalition is comprised of businesses of every size, sector and channel of product distribution, including both brick-and-mortar and online sellers, located in every state throughout the country. The diverse membership reflects the broad support for modernizing the current sales and use tax framework so that all businesses will play by the same rules. AVMA is a non-dues paying member of the Marketplace Fairness Coalition.

Over the past several years, many companies and organizations from across the country have urged Congress to enact marketplace fairness legislation. With the introduction today of bipartisan companion Senate and House bills—the Marketplace Fairness Act—Congress believes that the time has come to formally join together to level the playing field for all sellers and support a marketplace that is vibrant, viable and equitable for everyone.

The Coalition applauds Senators Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-S.D.), and Representatives Steve Womack (R-Ark.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and John Conyers (D-Mich.) for their leadership on this issue and for building strong bipartisan support for the legislation. The Marketplace Fairness Act will give all sellers the chance to compete in a free market without government preferences, relieve consumers of having to self-report sales and use taxes they already owe, exempt truly small businesses, and give states a roadmap for simplification that will provide them with flexibility to respond to today’s evolving marketplace.

For more information about the Coalition, including a list of companies and organizations that support federal legislation, please visit www.marketplacefairnessnow.org. Follow the Coalition on Twitter: @MFCoalition.

The Marketplace Fairness Coalition supports federal legislation that empowers states to update their sales and use tax laws to level the playing field for all sellers. The Coalition is comprised of businesses of every size, sector and channel of product distribution, located in every state throughout the country. The time has come for Congress to give businesses clarity and certainty by allowing states to update their laws to reflect a 21st Century economy.

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The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest
veterinary medical organizations in the world, with more than
86,500 member veterinarians worldwide engaged in a wide variety
of professional activities and dedicated to the art and science
of veterinary medicine.